Time 20: Heroism Redefined
by oichidan
Summary: Superboy was assigned by the Justice League to aid a terrorist-fighting duo, Aldi, a student with multi personality disorder, and Dietrich, a modern age wizard, in exposing and stopping the plans of terrorist group CRISIS to kidnap and brainwash all high school students in a mountainside town, Lembang.
1. The Encounter and The Letter

It was a lovely morning. Oh, the beautiful sunshine decorated by birds singing on the trees. Oh, what a perfect day to go out for a walk...well, some people do it and some don't. It's just normal to see so many kinds of people walking on the streets.

As for our friend, Aldi, he was reading the newspaper on the couch. A batik-motif headband is set on his head. His friend and adopted older brother, Dietrich, walked down the ladder shirtless. Wearing only a pair of shorts and sandals, he was carrying a blue t-shirt when he noticed Aldi reading the newspaper in slight disgust.

"And how are we today?" he greeted his friend, as he walked closer to him. He wore his t-shirt as he stood behind Aldi's couch, seemingly reading the headline at the same time. "What have we here? 'The Justice League save the day'?"

Aldi sighed. "I'm not surprised. How lucky is the United States, for they have crazy powered 'heroes' to save the day."

His friend showed him a smile and sat next to him. "Hey," he pat on his shoulders. "Nobody said what we do will be easy from the start."

"I know, I know. Just..." Aldi put the newspaper on the coffee table in front of him. Then he turned the television on. "Just because our country, Indonesia, isn't threatened by some crazy alien cult wanting to take over the world doesn't mean we don't have _shenanigans_ to deal with."

It was news program on TV. The reporter described what appeared to be the aftermath of a terrorist attack. The buildings around the place she was reporting from were not damaged as much, but there was one particular building that suffers from heavy explosion damage. One might easily notice it from the smokes and debris befalling its ground. There were also blood stains all over the building's place. We are safe to assume that the building is a house, since it appears to be a two-story tall house among a row of houses in a suburb setting.

"The terrorist group, CRISIS, claimed responsibility for this attack. They have also claimed hostage of three innocent bystanders, by which they demanded a direct meeting with the mayor for their freedom. They requested no money, only a meeting by the mayor," before the reporter finished her sentence, Aldi turned the television off.

He stood up and stretched his arms. "What a classic terrorist _shenanigan_. The mayor may be that carefree but doesn't mean his head is dysfunctional. You're in?"

"You sure they're held in the same old place?" Dietrich asked.

"Where else? Those crooks aren't going anywhere in town. Wonder why they _purposely_ make our jobs easier than we thought."

oWo

There were three people, one man, one woman, and one boy, gagged and tied on wooden chairs, surrounded by three masked armed men in a dark, wide, dusty room. There were no lights whatsoever, and despite the weather outside, the sunlight didn't even seem to notice the building they were in. The only lighting available was from a flickering ceiling lamp, which is barely reliable for a constant source of light.

Two of the men walked past their hostages. One whispered, "Reported this to the boss?"

"Sure. _He_ 'll be here any moment now."

He noticed the tip of a black pole on his right shoulder. Turns out someone was standing behind him.

"Be glad I'm _punc_ tual, _punks_ _,_ " Aldi said with a smile as he tipped his black pole and poked it to the armed man's neck.

The man turned around, hoping to grab the pole. What grabbing he got was Aldi's hands on his wrist. As he threw the man away in ease, his friend lifted his firearm and aimed toward him.

He fired his gun, aimed straight toward Aldi's head. A muscular young man with black t-shirt and jeans appeared out of nowhere. He stood front of Aldi, seemingly body blocking the bullets. The bullets deflected themselves as they touched the chest part.

Aldi stood astonished, but this remains short as the terrorist immediately threw a green glowing stone toward who protected him. Turns out the young man in black t-shirt fell down weak upon contact with the stone. When Aldi noticed the terrorist drawing a knife made of green glowing material, he knew he was up to nothing good.

The terrorist ran, raising the knife with its tip facing down toward the young man in black t-shirt. Aldi was swift enough to raise his black pole and point its tip toward his neck, stopping his advance.

"Who would you prefer dealing with? Me, or..." Aldi revealed the tip of a blade from the tip of the black pole, closing it toward the terrorist's neck. His batik-motif headband fell to the ground, revealing short, black hair. His eyes opened wide, and his mouth smiled a wide, menacing grin. It is as if he's a serial killer that found his next target and is eager about what he'll do. " _Me_?"

oWo

Aldi watched as the police brought away handcuffed two armed masked men. The three hostages walked past him, but their heads look down to the floor, ignoring their saviour. Dietrich walked anther masked men, with purple glows on his wrist. As he handed the crook over to the police, he stopped.

"Oh, apologies, officer. I forgot a tiny little detail," he focused his eyes on the purple glows and chanted, " _Lip, D'Staarth!"_

The purple glow turned into steel handcuff. Pretending as if this kind of _things_ is a normal encounter, the police seemed cool with it. They bailed the crooks into barred van, and after a few short greetings, they left. The hostages left in a black limousine seemingly arranged by the government for them, since they it has red number plate.

Aldi walked away from a seemingly abandoned house located far from the city centre. He was carrying the green glowing stone that weakened the young man in black t-shirt. "No one's freaking out with magic in the 21st century, now do we?"

Dietrich put on a smile. He wrapped both arms on the chest. "I guess after what we've been through for the past years, it's only natural that people grow accustomed to what they thought is fictitious. Especially when they see it almost everyday on the medias."

"But some random young guy that can deflect bullets but fell down for _this_ trick, you think it's arcane work?"

He gave the stone to Dietrich. He rubbed the stone from all sides, slowly and thoroughly. His confused face was all Aldi took as an answer, but he knew his friend is ready to say something more.

"Barely," he replied. "I've never seen anything like this. Any leads?"

"It's Kryptonite,"

A young man's voice came from within the house. As the duo turned around, they noticed the man in black t-shirt had recovered. He walked toward them, limping occasionally, still looking sort of weakened.

"Kryptonites make me weak. I have super strength but _that,_ " he pointed to what Aldi was carrying, "is my weakness, along with magic. Everyone knows this."

"I suppose the mental hospital rendered me more ancient than ever since," Aldi chuckled, "You have my gratitude, um..."

"Superboy," he proudly confessed his name, as he pointed the red 'S' sign in a diamond outline on his t-shirt's chest part. "I am with the _Justice League_."

Aldi's head struck. He remembered reading the very same phrase on the newspaper that morning, but had he expected a run-in with one of them, he would have reacted more casually. "Pause. You _are_ a superhero? As in the flying people that shows up in the news every morning?"

He nodded. "Yes, that's what they call me. I'm here to save the-hey!"

His exclamation stopped as Aldi pointed his black pole toward his neck. This the, he held the kryptonite with his other hand, seemingly ready to throw the stone to the rather surprised Superboy.

"Save the _day?_ Oh, for god's sake cut me off some slack. State your purpose!" Aldi gripped the pole tighter. "Do you seek me for the crimes I have committed against humanity? If so, I will have the honour of death from your hands, just make it quick."

"Wait, what's this? No, I'm not going to hurt you! I've saved you, man! What made you think I'm-"

"Both of you, calm down!" Dietrich raised both of his arms. "Don't make me do this."

"You...you orthodox racists! Just because we live in some other part of the earth and that we're _not_ Caucasians doesn't mean you can just leave us rotting to die by some terrorist bombardments! You think you can judge Indonesians just because we're mostly Muslims? Funny," Aldi grieved, "even _we_ are also _victims_ of their _lollygagging._ We're in desperate help almost every second of our live, so much that the police and military even bestowed this matter to a pair of priest and psychopath!" He cried, lowering himself to the knees, putting his pole to the ground and throwing the green stone away. "I-oh, for goodness's sake, I apologise. It wasn't what I wanted to say, but...you're, you just seem to abandon us here, catering more about the troubles in the States. How can I not hold a grudge against you? Were you here actively, they..." He cried.

"A grudge against us?" Superboy was even more surprised. "Did we ever do something bad to you?"

"No, not really," Dietrich lowered both of his hands. "Or rather, not _directly_."

oWo

"Oh my god..."

Dietrich sat on the dining room chair, with a cup of hot chocolate milk on the table. Aldi was upstairs, in the bathroom. He had been telling Superboy all he knew about Aldi, to a certain point the latter nodded down in grief.

"I'm sorry. I have no idea what you guys have been through."

It was raining outside, despite not heavy rain. It seems like the weather had been following Dietrich's story to the point it went gloomy, and that it wanted to support the mood.

"Don't worry," he sipped the chocolate milk. "The very second he found his best friends gunned down on the field, at the hands of the terrorist attackers, I can assure you he went crazier than a serial killer. In only a matter of hours, Lembang Terrorist Attack ended with heavy casualties on the terrorists' side. All 400 of them, dead by Aldi's hands _alone_."

Superboy didn't reply. He paid serious attention, resting his back to the wall.

"In a manner of speaking, he saved this town. But what he couldn't save are his friends and his own self. He succumbed to mental illnesses ever since. Two years in the mental hospital and he ended up what he is now, a person with two personalities living in a body."

"Two personalities?" Superboy wanted to clarify.

"One ego wants to solve things without bloody conflicts, while one other just want to shed and squeeze the blood out of the body. I'm surprised that the two had achieved such mutual understanding that they are in control of each other, though," Dietrich sipped another take of the chocolate milk. "That, and he's deprived of many qualities of a normal man: common sense, sexual affection, romantic interests...even now he desperately wants to die. One time I remember the president himself visiting him, and that he granted a pardon from the nation for what he has done, and that he desperately begged him to instead give him a death sentence. Basically, he's a _unique_ human while is also, in a terminal sense, a psychopath."

"Now I understand. If only the Justice League were as aware, we might have saved his friend, ended the attack, and none of this should have happened. For that, I'm sorry, but I'm sure mere apologies won't be enough," Superboy grieved. "So how did you guys meet?"

"Don't worry. Perhaps it's all for the best. Anyway, long story short," Dietrich smiled at Superboy, "my familly were murdered and someone framed me to prison twenty years ago. The country I was born exiled me here the day I was freed. When I got news that someone among CRISIS in Indonesia knew something about it, I went there in a melee spring. Turns out Aldi was also there trying to convince people to leave terrorist ranks, while also gathering some information about their next attack plan. We both failed, but at least we were safe."

Superboy walked to the kitchen. He took a glass of cold water and drank it all up. "Sounds like you both got involved in many things related to terrorism," he put the glass on the counter.

"It does sound so. My family had always been a line of great priests. We have a sacred family art that is used mainly to heal. Turns out that it's magic, and that I'm in direct descendant with some sage bloodline, I could cast a few spells or two. When Aldi found out that the former leader of CRISIS, which was also his martial arts teacher, orchestrated the murder twenty years past and attempted to gain the same power as my family bloodline by performing some nasty ritual, we went vigilante and put them down. We've been through a lot, and now I'm proud to say that Aldi's family accepted me as one of their own."

"Magic doesn't surprise me. Back then at home, we deal with some villains that plays with them, too."

"Glad to hear that," Dietrich noticed that his cup had been empty. "So, what was it about you were looking for us again?"

"Oh, right," Superboy walked to Dietrich. "The _Justice League_ wants to extend a helping hand to a duo of heroes that never tires of saving the day. We've noticed how you spoil terrorist plans and expose them in public, preventing disaster before it could ever happen. Not only that, we also noticed how you fight for the people, saving numerous hostages from terrorists, while also at the same time putting them in chairs with the government to discuss matters. Some public policies are made because of your efforts, and that's incredible, even to our standards. Mostly, we just punch them and put them in jails, but you do something even more."

"It's not a big deal. It was Aldi's head who does all the thinking and planning, while my magic makes things easier. While both have limitations, we try to fill in where possible," Dietrich tap his fingers on the table. "He wants to make sure that such _shenanigans_ , or so he calls it, never happen again by actually rooting out the _root_ of the problem. That includes talking the mayor about it if the problem comes from unfair government policies. He used his notoriety to gain his audience for the first time, and the rest was history."

"That is why we want to help. I here represent the Justice League extends a helping hand of friendship. We want to study your methods, while at the same time providing valuable aid to your cause. What do you say?"

Dietrich turned his head to Aldi, who seemed to have been watching their conversation for quite a time. He was sitting on the couch, his back facing both Superboy and Dietrich, and he was looking down.

"Your call," Dietrich called.

Aldi sighed. His head lifted, now seeing a reflection of Dietrich and Superboy through the turned off television screen.

"As the saying goes, better late than never. Though, before I can agree, I want to ask you a small favour," he stood up. He was holding a folded paper when he walked to Superboy and gave it to him. "Give this to whoever gave you such an exquisite mission. Have him read its contents. Tell him everything you know about us, and more importantly, that among the 400 terrorist attackers I..." he paused, "killed, some of them were brainwashed innocent civilians. In addition, I killed Mahsyuri Gunadi, the man responsible for Detrich's family murder, and is also my former martial arts teacher and former CRISIS leader, by some unspeakable acts I did to his spine. I also killed Setiawan Soenadio, my former martial arts teacher that turned terrorist, and left his split body drenched in his own blood. I want them to do a full consideration of their _helping hand,_ since I'm also a murderer in a sense. A criminal on the loose, in your standards. Someone who, at the right timing, will turn crazier than a serial killer, while at most other times will condemn the very act of murder."

"I understand. What should I do after giving this letter to Superman and the others?" Superboy asked.

"Your actions are always on the morning newspaper. I'll see the picture of my letter on the front page of the tomorrow's issue. Come here again the day after tomorrow. Dip the paper in blue ink if the Justice League still insists on helping me, and I'll welcome you here in open arms. Dip the paper in red ink if the Justice League later decides the otherwise, and the next time you come here, I'll be in handcuffs and solitary confinement with no fighting back."


	2. One-Handed Lockpicking

How do you imagine the start of your day? A cup of warm coffee, news on the television...or perhaps that irresistible urge to check Instagram for new posts and _Snapgram_ s. For our friend Aldi, that kind of thing would be in his childish imagination. 4:00 A.M., someone knocked the door. Frantically. As if there's a certain death chasing him.

As Dietrich opened the door, still bare without a shirt and only a pair of sweatpants, he found himself facing a female adult. Long, dark brown hair and casual attire, but her panicking got Dietrich thinking she might be in chase.

He had her waiting on the living room with a cup of warm tea. In the meantime, Dietrich dressed himself in casual attire while also waking Aldi up. He was sleeping on the study table, with some or more paperwork and three pens scattered.

They walked downstairs. The woman didn't seem to calm down, or so her face showed the duo.

"Oh, hello. I didn't expect early morning visitors," Aldi's greetings, "How may I help you?"

She looked down briefly before lifting her head up. She took a deep breath, calming herself down. "My name is Athaira Alya, but you can just call me Atha. I'm here because the police recommended me to meet you."

"The _what_ did _what_?" Aldi lifted his right eyebrow up. "What happened?"

"It's my daughter," she showed the two the picture of a beautiful young girl, about the age of a high school student. Her long, dark brown hair resemble that of her mother's, but her skin colour and sporty fashion choices didn't seem to fit the latter. "Alya Herdiyanto, or just Alya. She...she's missing!"

Dietrich took the photo and had a closer look. He didn't notice anything strange, except for a dark figure standing behind the window of whatever house that serves as Alya's photo background. "When was this picture taken?" He asked in curiosity.

"That's about one week ago...Ah, yes," she seemed to remember something, "I notice something strange about her. Since a week ago, last Thursday I believe, she's been acting...strange."

"Strange?" Aldi asked. "You're telling _me_."

"She's usually so cheerful and sporty she never refuse to do any kind of sport, even martial arts. She's learning Taekwondo," her mother continued, "But she became so silent and just shun herself inside her room. I don't know what happened. She refused to talk, or even come outside to just hang around with the family as she usually do."

"Does she have someone new? Like a friend?" Aldi asked again, "Or perhaps a boyfriend? Breaking up?"

"Her boyfriend is as worried as we do. We know each other and we're in good terms," her mother added. "He noticed that Alya hasn't texted him as frequent as she usually do since last Thursday."

"I see," Aldi concluded, writing something on the notebook he carried on his pocket. "What more can you tell us?"

"She suddenly disappeared this morning. We usually wake up at 3 A.M. because we need to do chores. Her father and I work in the morning so we have to wrap things up. When I looked into her room, she's gone. I tried calling her but her phone rang on her desk."

"Any...unusual things you notice from the door handle?" Dietrich asked.

She shook her head from side to side. "No," she said, "All of our doors are locked intact. Nothing strange. If she left by unlocking the door, we would've heard the doors unlocked."

"The windows even?" Aldi asked.

"Not a scratch."

He wrote it down on the notebook again. "No wonder why they asked you to meet us. This sort of thing they can't handle. But we jape, for we're also university students on the semester break. We'll see what we can do, but please don't expect so high."

"I understand," she nodded. "I just hope to hear from her as soon as possible."

Dietrich gave the woman his name card, and also Aldi's. "Please let us know if anything happens."

oWo

6.00 A.M. Dietrich had just finished taking a bath. He walked outside the bathroom wearing only towel that covers his waist. As he dries his dark green hair with another sheet of towel, he noticed Aldi reading the morning newspaper as usual. "Any news on Superboy?"

Aldi shook his head. "Not a word. In fact, the headline's surprisingly about natural disasters in the States with no superhero involvement."

"I guess they don't want to be all showy," he noted. "What do we do now?"

"I was thinking of stabbing my own neck with a knife but we got a missing girl on the loose," Aldi sighed, "I have a number of guesses but we have to narrow them down."

"Guesses such as?"

"Being kidnapped by a terrorist, a terrorist with magical capabilities, being dragged away by some supernatural beings, brainwashed, sleepwalking, or a very expert lock-picker barging in and had her hostage...so many possibilities. I've been thinking and scratching these notes for three hours but no good leads."

"I believe a visit is in order," Dietrich nodded to himself. "Fingerprints or some dusts are valuable. If the lock is indeed picked, _you_ can deduce what's wrong."

"Oh, right. Well then, we'll be going but you're not going to show off your hunky body like that now, are you?" Aldi chuckled. "Don't start a nose-blood tragedy with the girls and gay boys."

oWo

Alya's house is a two-story tall grand house located about 10 kilometres from the town centre. The yellow-themed painting stood it out from other houses that comprises of mostly pale gray and white painting. As soon as the duo arrived with Aldi driving his motorcycle, Atha had been waiting in front of her house. Aldi parked his bike while Dietrich went to greet the eager mother.

She walked the duo to Alya's room, located upstairs. Upon entering the house, they could easily see that the family was bloody rich: expensive-looking furniture and lighting, widescreen television with a home theatre and a PlayStation 4 console complete with its very own internet modem, and so much more. She even handed out the home's WiFi password to the duo.

Her room was unlocked to begin with. It wasn't wide, but it was sure comfortable. There's an expensive-looking wooden wardrobe with exquisite natural pattern carved onto it, a rich bed, a personal computer, a study desk and its lamp, two ceiling lamps, a mirror, a make-up table, a tall mirror on the wall, and windows showing the view of other houses in front of the house. The bed is by the windows, and two bedside tables decorate each side of it, one of which became a resting place for a red alarm clock.

Dietrich was examining the wardrobe when Aldi suddenly noticed an odd dust on the window's lock. It was darker, much like dirt compared to dust. Aldi took a closer look at the window's lock and found that someone sabotaged it. He noticed a strange cut on the window's glass. It was barely visible from afar, but clearly visible upon closer examination. When he tapped the square cut with his fingers, the cut part opened and fell down to the grassy front yard.

"I should have known," he sighed, gaining Dietrich and Atha's attention. "It's rather elaborate to cut the window from the outside and pick the window's lock with only one hand."

"What?" Atha didn't even believe what she looked. "How did you know?"

"This dirt," Aldi rubbed it on the tip of his index finger. "It's from some kind of...reddish stone. Those I can find at..."

"Roof?" Dietrich completed. "You mean it's the dirt from roof stones?"

"Ah, yes, that precisely," Aldi opened the window. As he looked up, to the roof of the building, he noticed what appeared to be the remains of rope tied to the roof. "So he came from there."

"But how can you pick a lock with one hand?" Atha seemed confused. "I tried picking locks when I lose the key to my drawer, and I'm having a hard time to just find the right click."

"Simple, really. Like this."

Aldi put out a paperclip and a needle. With only his right hand he could open the lock of the wooden wardrobe, not in a long time in fact. The click sound astonished Atha, while Dietrich seemed indifferent.

"Lock-picking sure comes in handy at times, does it not?" Dietrich put on a smile as he flipped his hands on his chest. "But who could have done this?"

"Beats me, but I know someone who knows a lot about sharp objects," Aldi took pictures of the cut portion of the window, from all sides, with his smartphone. Then he turned at Atha. "I believe we're finished looking around at the moment. We'll let you know if we find anything."

"Please do."

oWo

"... that's what he told me."

Superboy had just finished his report in front of Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, who were all sitting on a round table at the Hall of Justice. He put on Aldi's letter on the middle, visible for everyone there to see. While they all looked indifferent, Superman put on a thinking pose while Wonder Woman curiously read the letter.

"What should I do, now?" he asked.

"He's indeed unstable," Superman commented. "It's too dangerous, but...there's something interesting about his statements."

"No psychopaths are fully aware of his mental illness," Aquaman added. "But those kind of people are Batman's speciality. What do you think?"

After Wonder Woman finished reading the letter, Batman took his turn in reading it. Three minutes past, the letter rendered Batman in a confused look, yet he managed to remain looking stern and indifferent. "We don't forget that Plastic Man is a used-to-be criminal, and everyone deserves a second chance. Besides, he might have killed innocents while he's...mad, but none of us, including the local officials, knew that they were brainwashed."

Batman turned on the computer screen. He walked to the computer and started typing. On the big screen now was what appears to be reports written by Aldi about what happened at Lembang Terrorist Attack. He wrote it one year after he stopped the attack. "This is supposedly for the officials but we managed to get our hands on this. That's what made me assign this job to you, Superboy, in the first place."

"How did he found out that some of the people he killed were brainwashed?" Wonder Woman asked. "If he's telling us that he noticed while he's mad, then he's not completely insane."

Batman scrolled through walls of text until he found what he intended to find. "Here, on Page 49. Aldi knew it after the president visited him. Their intelligence agency gave it as a report."

"Outrageous," Aquaman's signature phrase fell from his mouth. "If I recall correctly, Aldi is in mental hospital for two years after he stopped the attack. Must have been a rough first year experience."

"And he intended to stay there, had the president not pardoned him," Superboy added. "However, he also asked Aldi for a specific case that only he can perform."

"What is it?" Superman asked.

"Exposing terrorist plans for the local authorities to seize," Superboy continued, "Most of the current high-ranks of the CRISIS group are former members of a local Martial Arts club. They all left the club after an argument with Aldi about financial shares. Because of this, Aldi knew CRISIS better than anyone. He uses his knowledge on digital security to hack their communication interface time after time, exposing one by one attack plans and hideout locations, while letting the police seize them and the media reporting."

"A support player," Robin finally joined the conversation. "He's made a _spy_ by his own government?"

"Sort of, but they guarantee the safety of his family in return," Superboy continued. "He reluctantly agreed, while asking for another year in the mental hospital to deal with what he calls an _alter ego_ of his."

"Are there any other death cases by Aldi's hands?" Wonder Woman asked.

"So far...no," Batman turned at Superboy. "Except for the death of two former CRISIS top-ranks, Mahsyuri Gunadi and Setiawan Soenadio. That, too, were because they cornered Aldi by threatening to kill his family and Dietrich in sacrifice for a ritual. Am I correct?"

Superboy nodded. "Yes, you are. In addition, Dietrich told me that the ritual proceeded with the bloods of Mahsyuri and Setiawan, granting him immense magical capabilities at the cost of his sexual desires."

He then returned to his seat. Batman, too, walked back to his seat.

Everyone went silence for a moment.

"What should I do now?" he asked.

They looked at Batman, who seemed to have been thinking quite hard. "It will happen eventually, but I believe now is the right moment. Your assignment will not change, Superboy. You are to aid him in his ordeal and represent the Justice League in Indonesia. We also have apologies to deliver for our neglect toward the country, that all this happened in the first place. We share the part of the guilt. This is only a small effort for us to show our responsibilities."

"Besides, there hasn't been any documented case that psychopaths can also save the day," Superman added. "This is a good opportunity to show everyone that no matter who you are, you can be good. You're right, Batman. Wise as always."

"I can't imagine a psychopath saving the day," Wonder Woman finished the discussion, "That's why this is interesting."


End file.
